--- title: Simplify, Then Add Lightness | daily.dev description: A founder's six hard-earned lessons on moving fast in hardware development, drawn from building ClearMotion (automotive active suspension) to $100M ARR. Key... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/simplify-then-add-lightness-0c1italp5 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Simplify, Then Add Lightness | daily.dev og:description: A founder's six hard-earned lessons on moving fast in hardware development, drawn from building ClearMotion (automotive active suspension) to $100M ARR. Key... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/simplify-then-add-lightness-0c1italp5 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/0C1ITAlP5.png og:image:alt: Simplify, Then Add Lightness og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Simplify, Then Add Lightness **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 24 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A founder's six hard-earned lessons on moving fast in hardware development, drawn from building ClearMotion (automotive active suspension) to $100M ARR. Key principles: delete unnecessary requirements before optimizing, design prototypes as focused experiments that retire one risk at a time, insource uncertain manufacturing while outsourcing mature processes, shift complexity from hardware into software, keep design and build teams physically co-located, and keep teams small. Illustrated with examples from Apollo, SpaceX, Tesla, NASA's Mars Rover, Lockheed Skunk Works, and the Gossamer Condor human-powered aircraft. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/simplify-then-add-lightness-0c1italp5) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Simplify, Then Add Lightness","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/simplify-then-add-lightness-0c1italp5","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/simplify-then-add-lightness-0c1italp5"},"datePublished":"2026-04-07T20:30:19.336Z","dateModified":"2026-04-07T20:30:47.049Z","description":"A founder's six hard-earned lessons on moving fast in hardware development, drawn from building ClearMotion (automotive active suspension) to $100M ARR. Key...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6c6a970d8c2226afff20f6d96b2fc752?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6c6a970d8c2226afff20f6d96b2fc752?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/simplify-then-add-lightness-0c1italp5","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT24M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Simplify, Then Add Lightness"}]} ```